MARIKANA – A POST APARTHEID SHARPEVILLE

South Africans from all over the country work on the Platinum mines including the Lonmin Mine in Marikana, Rustenburg near Sun City. The killings and maiming of over 100 miners has affected hundreds of families and the whole of South Africa is in mourning.

Video footage on national TV suggest that this was a self defence response by police that went wrong and the desperate pleas by police commanders to their charges to stop firing will remain with those who have seen the footage forever. How easy is it to lose so many human lives in a minute or two.

What more must workers do to get a decent wage for very hard work so that that they can give their families a decent life not necessary a life of luxury. Wages just about cover raw essentials.

Bosses do not hesitate to give shares worth millions to shareholders and comrades to get their patronage but keep their workers in poverty. Broad based empowerment is absent in the mining industry.

The events at Marikana has put Minister Trevor Manuel’s vision for South Africa for 2030 at risk as the National Development Plan depends largely on returns and jobs from the mining sector which now must be a pipedream.